Ugandan woman with sets of twins, triplets and quadruplets

At the age of 39, Mariam Nabatanzi is a single mother of 38 children. Six set of twins, four sets of triplets and five sets of quadruplets. To say she is blessed is an under-statement.

Mariam’s husband abandoned her three years ago after she had her last borns, a set of twins, leaving her to support the 38 children with six of them dead.

“It is true the children are all mine. I don’t regret anything and I love them and I am so proud of them because I am the only mother to those children. I got married when I was a child and God blessed me. I was married off when I was 12-years-old and had my first baby at 13-years-old and now I am 38-years-old but soon will be 39. I used to have 44 children but God took away some of them,” said Mariam Nabatanzi, mother.

Mariam's husband abandoned her three years ago after she had her last borns, a set of twins, leaving her to support the 38 children with six of them dead.

Miriam discovered that she had an unusually large ovaries after her first birth, and was advised by the doctor against birth control pills which might have caused her health problems. Thus the many children.

“We feel good. We do whatever our mother asks us to do even if it means cooking for the younger ones. The older ones usually help with the work when she is not around. She leaves us to take care the young ones and then we put them to sleep. When my mother comes we tell her how the children’s day went,” said Timothy Akiki, Mariam’s son.

Miriam is a special woman, especially so in a world where fertility rates are declining. World Bank data shows a global average of about 2.4 children per woman.